


Golden boy, scene!

by IsabelArmuelles



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad Pick-Up Lines, Bullied Keith, DEMI KEITH, F/M, High School, High School play, Keith is demisexual, Keith is soft and must be protected, Keith stutters, M/M, Musicals, Mutual Pining, Pidge and Hunk eat so fucking much bruh, Slow Burn, Sports, golden boy - Freeform, lance is bi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2018-11-17 13:23:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11276154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsabelArmuelles/pseuds/IsabelArmuelles
Summary: Keith was a fucking mess. He woke up late on his first day at a new high school,-- his old school's rival, may I add-- and his anxiety was getting the best of him.Never a good way to start.Lance, on the other hand, woke up early and walked to school. His problem was, the meat lover's pizza he packed for lunch was attracting way too many neighborhood dogs than he would've liked.Not a good way to start either.Maybe two bad starts can create a new, better one, don't you think?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yooooo updog how are y'all todayyyyy
> 
> Just wanna tell you I'm not so fluent at english and it's not my native language, but I wanted to do this for fun, so if you wanna correct anything just tell me nicely luvs
> 
> Also sorry if I repeat too many words, my vocabulary is not thaaaat big
> 
> Enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith meets Lance, and we get to see how nervous he is through all of it.

Keith stared at the ugly orange building long enough so that his eyes started to burn. His stomach was doing backflips, and if someone were to ask how nervous he was, he would've melted into a puddle of anxiety right there just to prove a point and give an example.

He wondered, was this suffering even necessary? Almost everyone inside that big building had a group of friends, most of those kids have probably lived their whole lives in this town, even. He knew he wouldn't fit in. A new kid? And from the rival school? There was a fat chance he was going to get bullied on the first day.

Keith's mind wondered back to when things were a little different. Back to when he had his small group of friends, and didn't have to worry about being a loner, or finding a seat in a full cafeteria, always knowing that he had a place to sit and people to talk to. He used to be the golden boy. In his old school, he was first in everything. Sports, grades, extracurricular activities, you name it. People loved him, even with his timid and introverted personality. He had the love and respect of his classmates. He worked hard for that, even with his anxiety ridden ass. 

He wasn't a chatty person, he was more on the reserved side. Because of this, his friends considered him very observant and thus, very wise.

Right now, he was very observant of the fact that he wanted to puke. He was standing on the sidewalk just staring. He felt like the school building was staring back, but with an intensity that made his stomach churn in response.

He was late and he didn't actually care.

Running a hand through his messy black hair, he sighed. If shit was gonna go down, it better be sooner than later.

Just as he was about to take a step forward, he heard a voice screeching, cracking mid-sentence.

"DUDE, RUN!"

Startled, he turned his head to his left, only to find a tall boy dressed in blue running towards him at an alarming fast pace. It wasn't until he noticed what was behind the boy that he started running along with him.

A small pack of different sized dogs,- if he could even call it that,- chased after him, looking ready to bite him up.

"TREE!" The boy pointed and screeched again, clearly out of breath. Keith looked at the general direction where the boy was pointing and saw a big tree provinding shade to a solitary spot with some benches right beside one of the bigger windows on the first and second floor. 

Without hesitation, Keith jumped on a bench and gave himself a boost, climbing up on a thick branch that was high enough. It wasn't until he was sitting on it that he realized the other boy wasn't able to do the same stunt and was hanging from another branch, much thinner and very unstable.

"HELP!" He screamed and kicked at the dogs biting his feet.

Keith reacted on instinct, hooking his legs on the branch where he was sitting on like an expert acrobat and extending his arms so that he was almost touching the other boy's hands.

"P-pull yourself up a-and swing this way!" Keith commanded, his anxiety and dread from two minutes ago leaving his body.

The other boy did as told, and Keith swiftly caught him, holding him from under his arms, letting the boy kick his leg up to hook it on the branch so they were safely sitting on it. Only when they were both stable enough did Keith let go of him. The dogs barked loudly under them. They sighed at the same time.

"Oh god, what a relief," the blue boy said taking his cap that had almost fallen off his head and ruffling his hair. Now that Keith wasn't being chased down, he finally took a good look at the guy. He had bright blue eyes and a dark, tan complexion. His hair was a rich brown and very curly, cut a bit short at the sides and longer on the top. "I thought I was gonna die."

Keith scooted away from him a bit, his nervousness slowly returning to him. One thing registered in his mind. Freckles.

"Wh-why were you being chased by so ma-many dogs?" Keith asked, pointing at the animals barking under them. They couldn't reach them now, but it still made Keith a little uneasy.

"Oh, that."

The boy took off his bag and opened a front pocket, revealing a brown paper bag. He extended it to Keith. Inside, Keith found a pizza with more meat than a butcher shop. He looked up, frowning.

"They probably smelled that. It's my lunch." The boy said, smiling. "Two dudes were walking a bunch of dogs and one of them apparently didn't hold the leashes correctly." He looked at Keith and extended his hand, waiting for Keith to shake it. "I'm Lance McClain, by the way."

Keith took the slice of pizza out of the bag, and without breaking eye contact with Lance, threw the pizza as far as he could, making it land in some bushes, all the way on the other side of the street. Lance's jaw dropped.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!  THAT WAS MY LUNCH, YOU LUNATIC!" Lance shouted, taking the empty paper bag out of Keith's hands.

"Sorry! I c-can buy you lunch i-if you want?" Keith nervously offered.

"What are you talking about? No food at this school can compare to the pizza you just wasted! Why would you do that?!" Lance looked like he was about to cry, and Keith didn't know how to handle him so he just said 'dogs', earning a confused look from Lance. Keith pointed at the dogs, which were already on the other side of the street, eating the pizza. Lance just stared at the animals with raised eyebrows. 

He looked back at Keith just to find out he was getting off the tree. He swiftly landed on his feet, like as if he was a perfectly trained gymnast. 

"Who are you?" Lance asked trying to immitate the same stunt as Keith. He almost failed, if it wasn't for Keith who caught him at the last moment, before he faceplanted on the concrete. He murmured a soft 'thanks' and started walking besides Keith.

"I'm Keith Kogane. I-I moved here two weeks ago. Sorry about y-your food," he quickly added, looking down at the ground.

Lance noticed how soft Keith's voice was. It was very different now that they were talking normally and not running away from dogs. Almost shy.

"Oh... don't worry about that, you kinda saved me there. Thanks." Lance waved a hand dismissively. Keith's face went red as he nodded, turning away to look at the dog walkers that finally arrived to the scene, taking the leashes and walking away.

Lance strolled alongside him silently and entered the school. Keith stopped walking a few steps in. The rush of running away from dogs made him forget about school, but now that he was inside the building, his anxiety came back faster than a bullet train in motion.

"Hey, I'm assuming you need some help finding your way around, since you're new and all-..." Lance stopped talking when he noticed Keith was not by his side anymore. He turned his head back to the school entrance and frowned with worry as he watched the boy he just met looking like he was about to cry. Silently, he walked back and stood a couple of feet away from Keith. "You okay, buddy?" Lance asked softly, searching Keith's face for an answer.

Keith's chest burned. It felt too late to turn back now, he was already inside the building and this boy he just met was offering to show him around. It wasn't really that bad, but his hands were still shaking and his breathing was threatening to become erratic with every passing second. Still, he pushed down his anxiety and told himself he could have that mental breakdown another time.

"Yeah, I'm fi-fine. Just a little ner-nervous, that's all." Keith said with a forced smile. Lance wasn't convinced at all, but decided not to press any further. "Can I take up t-that offer of showing m-me around?"

"Sure!" Lance smiled and looked at Keith.  He noticed how Keith was definetly shorter, about a couple of inches, and had a pretty good physique, considering the kind of stunts he pulled with the whole dog fiasco.

They both started walking and Lance explained the whole  'first day of class' agenda. "Okay, the first thing teachers do is gather all the students in the gym, where the different clubs announce their plans for the school year and the cheerleaders give an awesome presentation with backflips and a lot of hip shimmies." Lance imitated the shimmies and Keith giggled, showing some cute little dimples. "And then the principal gives an extended speech about the 'upgrades',- as I like to call them,- that they give to the school, and he explains what they expect out of us this year and all that jazz." Lance wiggles his fingers for the effect. "But..."

"But?"

"We're picking up our schedules first. We're supposed to do that after the whole presentation in the gym, but by the time we get there the whole thing will be over and I really don't wanna get in the middle of a stampeed, ya feel me?"

"Yeah", Keith answered nodding. 

"Oh, I forgot to ask, what year are you on?"

Keith tugged at the straps of his bright lavander colored bag pack. "I'm a j-junior."

Lance made a squaking noise and Keith turned his head startled. "I'm a junior too! I can introduce to some people if you'd like, and maybe you'll get into a club and you'll meet even more people! And maybe you can hang out with me and my buddies, they know a lot of cool people too, and-"

"U-uhm..." Keith mumbled in a low voice. Lance stopped mid-sentence and looked at Keith worryingly.

"Sorry, am I talking too much?" Lance asked a little slower. "You're more of a shy kinda guy, aren't you?" He said, a small smile playing at his lips. He somehow could relate to Keith, the start of a new year always brought a wave of nervousness to him. But just looking at Keith, he could see the poor guy was dying slowly.

"N-no, it's okay. It's just..." Keith nit his lip, sighed and tried again. "It's just, everyone here p-probably has a group and I really do-don't wanna be left out, but it's really h-hard to talk to people."

"Hey, you're talking to me! That's progress!"

"Well... ye-yeah." 

"See? It's not that bad. I'll help you if you want!" Lance said with a bright smile on his face, looking like a ball of sunshine.

They reached the main office, taking their time as Lance told Keith about the 'main things you need to know to survive this hell hole', as he lightly put it. The main office was really cold and plain, just grey walls and some chairs to sit on while you wait, a desk and a small painting of a man's face. Probably the principal or something.

Behind the desk was an old lady with long white hair and an angry, sharp looking face. Lance winked at the lady.

"Ah, Haggar, so good to see you again! What's my favorite secretary doing?" Lance said sitting on the edge of the desk and looking at Haggar's computer screen. "What'cha working on my lovely lady?"

"Get off my desk, Mr. McClain." She ordered in a monotonous voice. 

"Okay okay, fine." Lance said hopping off.

"If you're looking for your schedule, you're late. Everyone was already divided into their grades for the second set of speeches." Haggar said oppening a red folder and taking out a page with Lance's name on it.

"What?!" Lance suddenly shouted, making Keith flinch. It was then that Haggar noticed Keith standing there.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, Haggs, this is Keith Kogane! He's new around here." Lance's smile couldn't have been any bigger. He looked like a proud dad showing people his son's amazing skills. Haggar's faced changed into one of recognition.

"Oh, so you're the Balmera star athlete? Glad to have you in our school, Mr. Kogane." She then took another paper from the same red folder and looked at Lance. "I hope you show him around and make him feel welcomed."

"Th-thanks, miss." Keith said in a polite manner as he took the paper from Haggar. They both said their goodbyes after Haggar told them to meet the rest of their class in the auditorium. Lance frowned in confusion.

"You're from Balmera?"

"I-I... yeah? Is that b-bad?" Keith answered looking ahead.

About a week before starting school, Keith decided he didn't want people to know he was Balmera High's Golden Boy. He thought it might make their opinion of him change. Lance was pretty cool and had been really nice with him, so he didn't wanted that little nickname they gave him at his old school to become part of the conversation. He didn't wanted to be judged by that.

"Honestly, I don't know. People around here have a vendetta against Balmerans, but I really love their theater club and performances? so it's whatever to me." Lance said adopting a thinking pose, like the little emoji with it's hand on it's chin. Keith chuckled lightly.

Both boys walked side by side until they reached the doors of the auditorium, and Lance held up a hand.

"Now, my young grasshopper, you're about to enter my land, which is infested by teenage hormones currently, but my land, still."

"Y-you're a drama geek?" Keith asked as realization kicked in. No wonder Lance has such an outgoing personality and a way with words, he must be very good at acting.

"Hey! Us performers prefer 'Theater kids', thank you very much!" Lance said faking hurt. Keith mumbled a quiet 'sorry', but Lance just smiled. "I'm just messing with you, don't worry." He pushed the door open and Keith went inside first.

Bad idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go, I reuploaded and edited. Keith now stutters (like me) and seems even more shy.
> 
> Perfect.
> 
> Follow me on tumblr (@isabelarmuelles) or instagram (@isabel_armuelles) to check on the fanart and updates! Or come shout at me in all caps, whatever works for you♡


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance protecc,,, but he also atacc

The feeling was familiar. Awfully familiar.

Last year, Keith's school landed a spot on the high school statewide baseball championship finals. Everyone was exited. The school even gave the students a free day to prepare for the big game. Everyone was attending, Keith knew that. 

He was great at sports and had a spot on every team. Whenever they needed him at a football game, he was there playing and running, on the swimming team doing laps, on the soccer team, front and center.

He was even good at basketball, with his short stature and all.

But his passion was baseball. Keith took it upon himself to make the baseball team the best of all. He stayed late practicing, got there extra early to get work done, and sometimes when the coaches from other teams weren't asking him favors, he was on the field during lunch breaks.

His aim was perfect, his batting skills were amazing, and the boy could catch the ball even in his sleep.

During the final, the whole team was shaking, you could see the way their eyes lit up with a single mention of the sport. Keith, on the other hand, was a bundle of nerves. He couldn't stop shaking, he considered biting his nails but that would be taking a step back. It took him a long time to get rid of that habit and he was not going back to base one. Silently, he stood up and tapped the coach's shoulder lightly. 

"Are you okay, Kogane? You haven't talked since we got here." 

Keith just took a deep breath and asked if he could borrow the megaphone the coach brought with him. With a shaky hand, he pressed the speaker button. "Team, l-listen up."

Everyone on the locker room stood still and stared at him. Expecting. Waiting for him to say something. Anything.

Keith stood there frozen in spot with the megaphone in hand. His brain took a long moment to react, and after a while, his mouth started moving.

"Let's w-win this thing."

His voice was so low, if it hadn't been for the megaphone, it wouldn't've been heard. Slowly, and to his amazement, his classmates started smiling, cheering and shouting, hugging him and repeating Keith's words.

"LET'S DO THIS!"

"YEAH!"

"KEITH, YOU'RE THE MAN!"

"LET'S GO!"

Keith felt relief wash over him, he was comfortable with these group of people and they were all on his side, cheering for him and being nice.

But that wasn't the case here at Altea High. Not at all.

When Keith entered the auditorium, all eyes were on him.

Lance entered right behind him. "Hey guys, sorry we're late, had to show him around and get our schedules, ya know how things are." He said nonchalantly with his hands in his pockets, as if he wasn't talking to a room full of judging eyes.

"Ah, Mr. McClain, so nice to of you to humor us with your presence." The professor standing on stage holding a microphone said in a mocking tone.

"Oh professor Zarkon, I know you missed me." Lance said with a hand on his chest.

"Not at all." Zarkon said monotonously. He then noticed Keith standing frozen besides Lance and raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "And who might you be?" He asked. Just when Keith was starting to calm down because Lance had taken the spotlight off him, the whole crowd focused on him again.

Lance just turned his head and looked at Keith's petrified stare, and that was enough for him to intervine.

"Oh! This is Keith Kogane. He's a pretty chill dude; moved near our school about two weeks ago." Lance said introducing Keith. 

It was as if a switch was flipped, because everyone's faces filled with recognition.

"Hey, isn't that the golden boy from Balmera?"

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"Ugh man, Balmera fucking sucks."

"Yeah!"

The whole place filled with the well known sound of high school gossip. Some talked about his skills, others about his physique, and other started to 'booo' and throw stuff at him. This wasn't what Keith wanted. He took a step back and hid behind Lance, who recieved most of the hits with the paper balls. 

"What the- guys! Not cool!" Lance complained covering Keith and himself from the trash and paper raining on them. 

The thing was, even with Lance protecting him from the trash attack, he obviously couldn't protect him from the sea of insults that followed. Keith's eyes stung as his hands started trembling.

"I-I'm sorry, Lance." Keith whispered barely loud enough to hear. Lance just looked at him. Poor guy is a walking pesonification of anxiety on his first day of school and he gets showered in insults for being Altea's rival's golden boy. He wasn't even the golden boy anymore. Just plain ol' Keith.

Lance looked around and spotted Hunk and Pidge, sitting on the far edge of the auditorium and eating tortilla chips while enjoying the show. He smiled.

"Hey Keith, go sit with the big guy in a floral shirt and the gremlin with a beanie, I'll go sit with you in a bit."

The paper balls and insults towards Keith then turned into a dumb fight of throwing school supplies and hitting each other, so Keith was on safe ground for now as he made his way to sit next to Lance's friends.

Once he sat down, the small one with a beanie passed the bag of chips to him. "Sup."

"Uh, h-hi." He stuttered as he took some chips out of the bag. The big guy extended a jar to him, offering some salsa. "Th-thanks. I'm Keith."

"Oh, we know. By the way, last year's championship was awesome. You got a pretty great swing. I'm Pidge Holt. I use they/them pronouns, if you may." Pidge said dipping some of their chips into the salsa.

"I'm Hunk. I don't really care about pronouns, whatever you use is fine with me." He said smiling. "Oh, watch this." Hunk said pointing at the stage.

Keith noticed Lance standing on the stage, with a microphone in hand. Professor Zarkon was off stage trying to calm everyone down, but he was barely audible with all the chaos happening.

"What is he doing?" Keith asked, confused. 

"Shh, just watch." Pidge shushed him.

Lance's eyes searched the room and landed on Keith. Without breaking eye contact, he gave Keith a cocky grin, and...

Lance tilted the microphone at an angle that produced a deafening sound, blowing out of the speakers and halting all chaos. Keith had never hear a sound so loud and annoying in his life.

It probably held the power to break glass and kill an entire army. It was so loud, he felt his ears ringing. A bit more high and it would only be heard by dogs. His jaw fell open as Lance held the microphone like that so long, the whole fight stopped just so people could cover their ears. Groans could be heard all over the auditorium.

Both Pidge and Hunk looked so chill, though. They must be so acostumed to it, it didn't affect them anymore.

As Zarkon started climbing the stage's stairs to take the microphone away from Lance, he simply parted his lips and spoke in the most venomous voice ever. "Bite me." 

"Yeah okay, that's enough. Thank you Lance." He said shooing Lance off and taking the microphone back.

"My pleasure."

Everyone just glared at him as he made his way next to Keith. Once he sat down, he turned to Keith and asked, "how are you feeling?"

"W-why would you ev-even do that?" Keith asked wide-eyed. He didn't really know Lance so he couldn't tell him that although it was very annoyingly impressive, his ears were about to bleed.

Hell, he even felt a bit deaf on his left side.

Pidge passed the chips. "Lance knows how every single microphone and speaker in this auditorium works. It's the fastest way to shut up the masses."

"I enjoyed the 'bite me' with that cold look. It was a nice touch." Hunk commented as he offered Lance some salsa.

"Aww, thanks Hunk." Lance said with his mouth full. He swallowed and made eye contact with the black haired boy. "I don't want anyone insulting my new friend."

Keith flushed furiously and lowered his head, feeling a bit overwhelmed. Lance was nice enough to show him around, and now he wanted them to be friends? Keith could hardly get the idea into his head. "R-really?"

Lance ducked his head to be at the same eye level as Keith. "If that's okay with you?" He asked smiling slightly.

Keith quickly nodded and gave a small, shy smile. "Thank y-you."

"How did you two even meet?" Pidge asked raising a brow.

Lance quickly explained the dog fiasco and how Keith saved him from a 'slow and painful death', as he lightly put it, which resulted in Pidge throwing some tortilla chips at him for being so dramatic and Lance getting some salt in his eyes. Hunk took some eye drops from his bag and offered them to him, looking a bit worried when Lance's eyes started to water a lot. Pidge tried to muffle a laugh and Keith just offered help, slightly amused. 

The auditorium had gone back to normal, everyone was back to their own buisness and Professor Zarkon was talking about how you shouldn't start a fight by throwing objects around, how the insult 'stupid moronic idiot' didn't even make any sense and whoever said that was even dumber than the insult they were trying to convey, and also about the activities the juniors would be in charge of during the school year. Some food sales, a Car Wash to raise money for a field trip, a stand on the school fair representing their whole grade, a play...

This caught Lance's attention. His eyes,- although a little bit red and watery,- lit up like Christmas lights on december, and his smile grew bigger by the second.

"Guys, I'm going to act."

"We know, doofus. You always play the lead." Pidge took a cherry soda out of their bag and offered it to Hunk, then taking out a grape flavored one and gulping it down. "Keith, you're sitting next to the gratest actor of our generation-"

"Aww Pidge-"

"-and also the most annoying boy at the school."

"You know, this is why you're not my favorite out of the bunch."

"Lance, you have about four friends, try not to make the numbers go down." With that, they finished chugging their soda and burpped loudly to finish their statement. Hunk just sighed and drank in silence.

After a few minutes had gone by, Keith started to block out Zarkon's speech about his class, biology, and all the projects they were meant to do during the school year. Pidge was falling asleep against Hunk's shoulder, while he was reading a book about Greek mythology, from what Keith could see from where he was sitting.

Lance was also falling asleep, with his head propped on his hand, almost falling off of it. His eyelids started to close, and his struggle to stay awake was becoming a losing battle. Keith stifled a giggle when Lance's head slipped out of his hand and bumped against the seat in front of him. 

"Ow!" He pouted and rubbed his forehead. Keith made a failed attempt to cover his face and hide his smile, but Lance gave him a knowing look and whined. "Stop laughing! It really hurt!"

"S-sorry!" 

Lance yawned without bothering to cover his mouth and sleepily moved in his chair so he could be more comfortable. He gave Keith a sheepish look and a small smile. "Hey, Keith... do you mind if I, uh... put my head on your shoulder?"

Keith's eyes widened a little, surprise written all over his face. A bit of a bold move for someone you just met, but he didn't really feel uncomfortable with the request, so he quickly nodded and slightly leaned to the side, giving Lance better access.

After another fourty five minutes of endless talking and fighting against sleep, a bell rang signalizing the end of the speech. Professor Zarkon dismissed everyone and the sea of teenagers moved out of the place. slowly the room emptied, and Lance's group slowly awoke from their slumber. Keith didn't remember falling asleep, so he was startled when he found himself leaning his head into Lance, using him as a pillow.

"Oh god, I think I drooled a little." Lance mumbled and smiled apologetically at Keith.

"Disgusting." Pidge said at the same time Keith dismissed Lance with an 'It's fine'. 

"Shut uo you little Pidgeon." Lance said ruffling their hair. Pidge slapped Lance's arms away. After exiting the auditorium, they waved goodbye and walked off to their next class, claiming that the classroom was too far away and that it was already annoying them.

"Did they already send their schedule to the group chat?" Lance asked taking his phone out of his pocket. Hunk nodded walking beside him and Keith.

"Yeah, I sent mine too." He fist-bumped Lance and then turned to Keith, shaking his hand. "Hey, nice to meet you, man. See you around."

Now it was just Lance and Keith standing in the almost empty hallway. Keith watched as Lance took out his own schedule and snapped a pic. He then folded it in a disorganized way and shoved it in his pocket.

"Well, if we don't hurry up, we'll be late, and I don't wanna start another argument with a teacher. I'm running out of comebacks for today." He chuckled lightly and started walking.

Keith felt nervous again. Lance had already pointed out where his next classes would be, and explained the directions to him in a simple way so he wouldn't forget any detail. He even showed him where his locker was. 741, two spots besides the music room and right in front of the boy's room on the left wing of the first floor.

But he was still anxious. Lance was so easy going that Keith didn't actually wanted to let go. But it would be weird to hold onto someone you had just met just because you felt uneasy around people. Lance didn't know about Keith's problems and Keith wasn't going to dump his worries onto someone he just met. So he took a deep breath, waved goodbye to Lance, and started walking in the opposite direction, feeling his heart slowly rise up to his throat.

It's wasn't until he was about to turn the corner when he heard Lance calling him back.

"Dude, wait! I totally forgot!"

Keith turned around just it time to catch Lance, who tripped with his own feet and almost slammed his head against a locker. "Thanks buddy." He said a bit embarrased. "I just realized I didn't ask for your number."

"O-oh."

Both boys took out their phones and exchanged numbers. Lance asked Keith if he could take a picture of his schedule, so he knew where to find Keith if he got lost or something. 

"Su-sure." Keith answered, feeling his face heat up. Lance was really cool.

"Text me if you need anything, I'll go get you after class so we can hang out during break." And with that Lance walked away to his next class.

Keith watched as Lance dissapeared around a corner. He smiled and made his way to his own class.

Maybe today wasn't going to be so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PUT YOUR HEAD ON MY SHOUUUUUUUULDERRRRR~~~~
> 
> WHISPER IN MY EAR, babyy~
> 
> Guys I love Paul Anka danggity dang dang
> 
> Y'all know where to go if ya wanna rant or meme up
> 
> Tumblr @isabelarmuelles
> 
> Ig @isabel_armuelles


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith makes a new friend and officially becomes Lance's buddy.

To Keith's amusement,- although not so much,- the day was a series of ups and downs.

Just as Keith entered his classroom, the noise that was coming from the inside stopped. Everyone's heads turned in unison, some eyeing him up and down like some kind of prey. Some were just glaring at him with no shame whatsoever.

"What the hell is he doing here?" A guy sitting closest to the window exclaimed loudly, his voice followed by a sea of agreements and shouts.

"Go back to Balmera, you shit."

Of course the whole scene looked like it was taken out of a high school movie. Even the part where the teacher tried to calm down the students so the new kid didn't feel so unwelcomed.

A sudden burst of bravery caused Keith to start walking. He was not having it. Apparently everyone already knew who he was, so he might as well just skip this part and avoid eye contact. He walked to the back of the class and stood in a corner, leaning against the wall, since there was no other seat available. Just great.

"Oh dear, there's no other place to sit." The teacher started mummbling. He reminded Keith of a mouse, a small man with big ears and a stange squeaky voice for an old grown adult. The teacher said something about getting more seats for the students who were absent. People started to quiet down little by little, paying no mind to Keith at the end. 

Keith crouched down and took his phone out. He still felt anxious, the new surroundings were as unwelcoming as ever, but he didn't really feel like texting his friends back at Balmera, knowing that if he did, he'd be showered with questions about his new school. He wondered, should he text Lance? Was it going to annoy the boy? Or maybe distract him from his current class. They weren't close enough and Keith didn't wanted to be a burden.

He texted Lance anyway.

~Keith: Hi.

It didn't take long until Lance answered.

•Hot stuff: oMG took ya longg enough!!!

Keith blinked at his phone's screen. Sharpshooter? Did Lance really saved himself on Keith's phone with that name?

•Sharpshooter: did ya see how I saved my numbr?? ;)

~Keith: Yeah. Why 'Sharpshooter'?

•Sharpshooter: cuz whenevr u see me u get an arrow right thru ur heart  ;)

•Sharpshooter: Also bc I have the high score in "Zombie Clash" @ the local arcade :p 

•Sharpshooter: and an award @ laser tag so,,, u can't touch this

Keith covered his mouth with a hand to avoid giggling. The girl who sat nearest to where he was looked back and smiled at him.

"Something funny?"

Keith raised his head and looked back down again, embarrassed. "N-no, I just-"

"I'm just messing with you, chill." She accommodated herself so she was facing Keith. "So, who're you texting, if you don't mind telling me?"

Keith suddenly felt a bit calmer with the girl. She had a soft voice and a friendly smile. He hair was a curly mess, with honey highlights that matched her beautiful yellow eyes, and didn't seem to mind who he was or what school he came from. "Lance McClain."

"Ooh, you're texting Lancey? He's a friend of mine. We're both theater kids. He usually plays the lead, and he's a crazy good actor."

"R-really?" 

"Yeah! Last year we raised a ton of money thanks to his one man show, 'Shakespeare's an ass, but he truly had class'." Keith's eyes widened at the name. "His friends Hunk and Pidge helped him write it and all three of us handled the lights, costumes and sounds while Lance just amazed the crowd." Her smile grew bigger at the thought. "It was a stand-up comedy type of thing. Parents, teachers, and even people from around town seemed interested and showed up, and all the gains from the show were used to fix the auditorium and buy new lights."

"I-I... wow."

"I know, right?" She beamed at Keith and let out a soft laugh. "I'm Shay, by the way. Oh, that rhymed!"

"I-I'm Keith." He said smiling.

"Oh! You've got a very pretty name. Hey, let's take a selfie together and send it to him!" Shay said in an exited whisper so the rest of the class couldn't hear them. Most of them were on their phones of talking to each other, but Keith was thankful for her low voice, avoiding the unwanted attention. He passed his phone to her and she snapped some pictures, making weird faces while Keith just giggled and covered his mouth so his laugh wouldn't disturb others. Shay gave Keith his phone back and he sent some of the pictures. Then she asked Keith if he could give her his number, since they were in the same classroom and all. "Hey, tell me when he answers back."

"O-okay."

•Sharpshooter: is that Shayy???

~Keith: Yeah. We're in the same class.

•Hot stuff: hEY tell her I SAW U FIRST!!!

The rest of the class consisted on Keith showing Shay Lance's texts and both of them giggling. Keith was glad they didn't get caught, since the teacher,-- Mr. Mice, to Keith's amusement,-- wasn't explaining anything and just carried a light conversation with some students sitting in the front. The man didn't seem to care that much, so that was good.

When the bell rang, everyone rushed out of class and the hallway filled with noise. Shay said goodbye to Keith after explaining she was asked to help the drama teacher put up some flyers for anyone who wanted to join the drama club. Not five seconds after she left, Lance came barging through the door.

"Mice, my man, it's so good to see you!" He saluted the teacher and both shook hands. Then Lance threw an arm around the teacher's shoulders and pointed at Keith. "Keith, buddy, this is the best history teacher in the world."

"Oh, stop that, McClain." Mr. Mice chuckled waving a hand.

"You can't deny it! No other teacher, ever, has made a reenactment of the French Revolution and managed to get a class so interested, everyone actually passed."

Mr. Mice chuckled and puffed up his chest, looking proud of his own doing. "Well, it was quite challenging, but we all managed to make it memorable and learn something from the experience." He patted Lance on the back and shooed him out of the classroom. "Now, behave and go enjoy your break."

"Sure thing, Mr. Mice. Let's go buddy." He looked at Keith and both boys walked away after waving goodbye. "Okay, so, I'll show you our super special spot at the cafeteria. We either hang out there, in the auditorium, or on the bleachers near the football and baseball field."

At the mention of baseball, Keith's eyes lit up.

"Ba-baseball?"

"Yeah, baseball." Lance looked at him confused. Then it downed on him. "Oooh right, you're a sports prodigy." He said. "Wanna eat outside then?"

"I-if it's not much t-to ask..."

"Nah, don't worry. I'm in need of some fresh air anyway. I'll text Hunk and Pidge." Lance took his phone out and tapped on it quickly.

Both boys walked together talking and joking; Keith noticed Lance was even more talkative than before, if that was even possible. The boy knew thousands of jokes and cheesy pick-up lines, and he warned Keith that he will be using them whenever he could, before asking if it was okay to use them on him, explaining that it was his way of interacting with people closest to him. Keith didn't mind at all, he was actually amused by it. 

People stared as they walked through the hallways, some glaring and some gossiping. If Lance noticed it, he didn't mention it at all, which relieved Keith. They eventually reached the bleachers after walking for a while, and sat next to Hunk and Pidge, who were already there.

"... but then I saw a post on Tumblr that said the chicken crossed the road to get to the other side because it was committing suicide, and I was so shook because, what the hell traumatized that chicken so much for it to do that!? Like, did that chicken have family problems or a financial crisis? Why!? I need reasons, I need backstory!" Lance complained and Keith nodded, paying close attention to Lance's turmoil.

"Is... is he talking about the chicken again?" Pidge asked mildly confused.

"Seems like it." Hunk shrugged. Pidge rolled their eyes.

"Don't tell me you haven't thought of it too!" Lance said pointing at them. Keith just laughed. He grabbed Lance's arm and lowered it.

"Well, y-you just opened m-my eyes, so th-thank you." Keith had a small smile on his lips, which made Lance smile back.

"See? He get's it-"

"WATCH OUT!"

Some guy on the football field accidentally threw a ball too high and his friend failed to catch it, so it was flying directly at Pidge. They covered themselves and expected getting hit by the ball, but Keith quickly reacted and catched it as if it was nothing. 

Hunk and Lance's mouths hung open in amazement, and after a few seconds Pidge opened their eyes just in time to see Keith throw the ball back at the guys on the field with a perfect aim. It looked so effortless. They hollered at Keith as a thanks and resumed their game. Keith turned around and asked Pidge if they were okay.

"Oh my god I thought I was gonna die." They answered. Hunk patted their back and gave them a small Hershey's bar to calm them down a bit. Keith sat down again, and turned to Lance, whose mouth was still wide open.

"W-what?"

"Teach me how to do sports."

"Huh?" Keith just stared at him, confused. Lance scooted closed to him and bumped his shoulder against Keith's. 

"Teach me how to do the sport thing." He said a bit softer. Pidge snorted.

"You gotta specify which sport, doofus."

"I kinda need help with every sport." Lance said with a sheepish smile. "Can't even run to save my life."

"True. Remember last year on P.E. when he threw the ball into the basket and it bounced back, knocking him out?" Pidge said to Hunk.

"Or that time when he faceplanted while playing soccer because he tripped with his own feet." Hunk answered back.

"Or that other time, when-"

"Okay okay, we get it. I suck at sports in general." Lance said shushing his friends. He then looked at Keith. "So, what do you say?"

"I-I guess I could train you or so-something..." Keith said in a small voice. He was blushing slightly, just like he always did when someone gave him a compliment on his skills.

"Now it's official, Keith has won a spot in our group." Lance announced.

"I thought it was official since you told him to sit with us in the auditorium?" Hunk furrowed his brows.

"Well, now it's officially official, then." Lance said.

"That doesn't even make sense."

"It does, gremlin." He said bopping Pidge's nose. They stuck their tongue out and licked Lance's finger, which resulted in them bickering for five minutes, only stopping to accept the mini sandwiches Hunk offered to them. Keith took his and gave Hunk a small smile, nibbling on in and enjoying the nutella-marshmallow combo.

After the break ended, Lance took out his phone and added Keith to a group chat called 'NEVER GONNA' with a pic of Rick Astley as the group's profile picture. He then sent Keith's schedule so everyone could have it. "Feel free to spill some tea or send memes."

"Or photoshop Lance's face onto the weirdest pic you can find. Those are comedy gold." Pidge added while sipping on some juice box.

"Oh." Keith said, followed by a little giggle. Lance smiled and laughed along with him, not at all bothered by Pidge's taunting. They both said their goodbyes after Lance offered to walk Keith to his next class. As they walked away, Pidge exchanged a knowing glance with Hunk.

Both knew what was about to go down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all know what will go down, but we all here for the slow burn, ain't we?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keef is an amazingly talented baby, Shiro makes and appearance, someone takes Keef's things from a locker and a good Klance moment ensues.

Less than two weeks had passed since Keith enrolled into Altea High and he was already sick of the rumors about him. He hung out with Lance, Pidge, Hunk and Shay, and everywhere they went, people gossiped and stared.

The rumors he hated the most were the ones that said he was kicked out of Balmera for bad behavior, and the ones that said he'd been a jerk to his whole team and left the school after his teammates kicked him out of the team. After Keith heard the latter, he explained to his new group of friends that he moved thanks to his dad's new job and Altea was a lot closer than Balmera, so the logical thing to do was change schools. They all paid no mind to the gossip, saying that Keith was too shy and nice to be anything close to a jerk. Still, the rumors that were spreading around like fire gave him a bad reputation, which he despised the most.

Wednesday during P.E. though, Keith felt relief wash over him as he entered the gym and was greeted with the sound of basket balls bouncing against the wooden floor. He quickly changed in the locker room and left his clothes in the same locker as Lance, since there weren't enough for the whole class. He shared this class with Lance and Pidge, and to Lance's delight, Keith could help him practice enough to actually pass the subject. Both boys walked out of the locker room and waited for Pidge to join them.

"H-hey Lance?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Since P-Pidge is non-binary, wh-where do they change their gym c-clothes?" Keith thought about that while he made his way into the gym and was now intrigued.

"Oh! They have their own room to change. It was a janitor's closet but they asked for the room and since it wasn't being used, the school gave it to them. It's also being used by some sophomores, but Pidge was the one who bargained with the principal to give them the room." Lance explained raising his arms over his head and stretching a bit.

Keith stetched his arms too. "And ba-bathrooms?"

"There's a unisex bathroom on the second floor, beside the chemistry lab, I think. Pidge also asked for that."

"That's... actually i-impressive." Keith said, eyes wide in amazement.

"What's impressive?" Pidge asked appearing behind Keith. Lance jolted backwards.

"Mothertrucker!" Lance exclaimed loudly after accidentally letting slip out a girlish scream. His voice was way too loud for his own good, making the teacher blow her whistle at him. Everyone groaned and gathered up closer to hear the instructions for the day.

"Listen up pubescent freaks, today's class will be an improvised evaluation, so you better do your best, unless you want your first failure to be an F on the easiest class in the world." The teacher then pointedly stared at Lance for a couple of seconds before continuing. "The class will be divided into two team, whoever wins will get the A, and the losers get a D." She then pointed at two boys in the front. "You two, pick. Pidge, you'll be the referee. I need that trained nerd eye of yours to keep scores and stuff."

"Nice." Pidge said walking to stand next to the teacher.

The class then stood in a line and the two students started to pick their teams. Some cheered after being picked, others whined and groaned before joining their team leader and group. A couple of picks later, there were only three people left.

"Hey, hey, pick Keith!" Lance said 'trying' to whisper. The captain of his team shushed him and picked the girl beside Keith. "Ohhh, come on man!"

"Lance, shut up, no one wants your friend on their team."

Keith flinched at those words. They weren't that big of a deal, but it still hurt. He hadn't done anything to that guy. Lance glared at the guy and cursed him in Spanish, a habit that Keith had noticed Lance did every time someone did something bad to him or something went wrong. To his right, Pidge snorted and whispered 'classic', while wiping away an imaginary tear from their eye for extra dramatic flair. 

The other team captain picked the short blonde boy standing on the other side of Keith. Lance's captain just rolled his eyes and mumbled something along the lines of 'fine, I guess I'll take him' while his team sighed. Lance cheered and bumped his shoulder against Keith's in a friendly way.

"Finally, my first A in P.E." he said patting Keith in the back. Keith smiled at him.

"Kogane, you get the bench."

Lance's smile faltered, threatening to leave his face. "What? But this guy is our ticket to an easy A!"

The guy walked dangerously close to Lance and jabbed his forefinger into Lance's chest. "Look, Theater boy, I don't care if he's your friend, I don't want a Balmeran playing with us."

"Actually, everyone has to play, or they won't get a grade." The teacher cut in and benched a few people so each team had five players on the court. "Every five minutes you'll have to rotate your players. Captains, you assign who enters and who gets out."

And so, the game started. 

Some just passed the ball, others ran around and did all the work, and a few just stood there and did nothing. Near the end of the class, Lance's team was losing, by a lot. Keith still hadn't played, and the team captain showed no signs of wanting to let him play.

"Dude, let him play!" Lance shouted at his captain, who was running on the court.

"Fuck off!" The guy shouted back and tried to block a pass from the other team, failing miserably.

Lance just stood beside Keith getting more frustrated by the second, ready to punch somebody in the face. Keith tapped his arm to get his attention.

"D-don't worry. It's ok. At least y-you'll get a fixable D."

"Why get a D when you can get an A?" Lance said before walking towards the teacher. He then whispered something to her and the teacher nodded.

"Red team, switch. Kogane, go play."

Keith looked at Lance confused, but the tall brunette just smiled and said, "make me proud, buddy." He looked at his team members standing on the court, and just pointed straight at Keith, hoping everyone would get the message.

There were six minutes of game remaining, and as Keith jogged into the court, his whole face filled with determination. Lance cheered. Pidge grinned. Everyone on the bench was expectant.

The teacher blew the whistle.

In the blink of an eye, the ball was in Keith's control. He made a few passed here and there, but everyone simply returned the ball to him. It was impossible to block the boy.

Keith's team quickly took the lead and kept scoring. In such short time, he managed to score the 21 points they needed and leave the whole class with their jaws on the floor. Finally, Pidge announced the end of the match, and the winning team cheered and ran around, praising Keith and enjoying their victory, except for the team captain and a few of his friends.

Lance ran up to Keith and squeezed his sweaty friend, earning a giggle from the smaller boy. "My first A on P.E!" He then dropped Keith and jumped around in excitement. "I owe you big time, buddy!"

"Dude, that was amazing!" Pidge walked up to them as the rest of the class made their way to the locker rooms.

"It sure was."

A deep yet soft voice caught their attention. They all turned to look at a tall, handsome young man dressed in a black shirt, dark grey shorts and a jacket with the school colors.

"Oh, hey Shiro." Pidge greeted waving a hand.

"Hey, kid. Matt told me to bring you the USB you needed for a class presentation." Shiro said taking a small, green USB out of his pocket.

"Thanks." Pidge said taking it. They turned to look at Keith. "Golden boy, I present to you, The Legend."

"Pidge, stop that." Shiro chuckled. "I'm just a regular athlete."

"With a robotic arm and nine colleges pleading him to attend them." Pidge added smirking.

"O-oh! I've heard about y-you!" Keith said shyly, extending his hand for Shiro to shake it. "Y-you managed to score 40 po-points in the first 8 minutes o-on a match against Balmera, two ye-years ago."

"That's right."

"I saw th-that match, f-first row during m-my freshman year. It i-inspired me to practice e-even harder and also join the ba-basketball team!" Keith said grinning like a fan boy. Lance patted him in the back and let his arm rest over Keith's shoulders.

"Weren't you already on the baseball team during freshman year, buddy? There was a rumor that some guy on Balmera became team captain during freshman year." He said raising a brow. Keith blushed.

"W-well, yeah, I-I was captain of my b-baseball team, a-and the swimming team too, but basketball seemed ve-very entertaining and fun, so I-I joined them too." Keith turned to look at Lance, his friend looking proud of all his accomplishments. Shiro whistled in amusement.

"You truly won the 'Golden Boy' nickname, didn't you?"

"O-oh, yeah." Keith blushed darker this time.

"Well, if there's anything you need, I'm available. Sports related or not." He looked and his wrist watch and tsked loudly. "I better go, before Zarkon kicks me in the face or something for being late. See you guys around!" Shiro waved goodbye and jogged to the gym entrance, not after mock-saluting the coach.

Pidge parted saying that they we're going to change and talk to the coach about their grade, so Lance and Keith were left standing on the middle of the court. Lance ruffled Keith's hair before taking a running start and yelling 'last one to get to the locker room buys the other lunch!'. Keith chuckled and ran after Lance, not really minding buying lunch for his friend.

The locker room was almost empty, the few boys that still remained inside we're already gathering their stuff to leave, so the only ones being left behind were Lance and Keith. They took their clothes out of their shared locker and undressed, packing their sweaty clothes inside their bags. Lance took out a towel and wrapped it around his waist.

"I don't know about you buddy, but I feel stickier than Elmer's glue. I'm gonna hit the showers, you mind waiting for me?"

Keith looked up. "I thought t-the showers were da-damaged?"

"Some are, but others work just fine."

"Well th-then, I'm taking a shower t-too."

Keith stripped quickly and covered himself with a red and white towel. Lance smiled. "You know, red suits you a lot. It looks really good on you."

Keith blushed at Lance's compliment. "Th-thanks."

Lance took a purple body and hair wash out of his bag and told Keith they could share. Both boys made their way into the shower room and Lance told Keith which one's were working. Keith hung his towel in a little hook against the wall and turned the shower on. He was soon greeted with the cold and calming water that ran over his spine. Nothing like cold water for sore muscles. He heard Lance complain about the 'damn ice cubes hitting his face', and couldn't help but laugh.

He brushed his wet strands of hair out of his eyes and asked Lance if he could toss the bottle when he was done using it. After a couple of minutes, Lance tossed it over and Keith swiftly caught it, mumbling a 'thanks' to which Lance responded with 'no problem, buddy.' 

He poured a bit in his hand and massaged his scalp with it, washing the sweat off his hair. Then he took a bit more and rubbed it all over his body, washing everything off with the soothing water. After he was clean and refreshed he turned off the shower and dried off the best he could. He wrapped his towel around his hips and met Lance at the entrance of the shower room, where he waited leaning against the door frame. Keith handed back the purple bottle.

"You look like a wet dog." Lance said taking a strand of Keith's long black hair between his fingers.

"Thanks." Keith said, softly slapping his hand away and laughing.

Both walked over to their locker and found Keith's bag on the floor with all his belongings and dirty gym clothes scattered around.

Keith's clothes were missing.

Only his clean pair of boxers remained, and they were taped against a locker next to a post it note that said 'SHOW OFF'.

Keith's eyes started to water. He felt his lower lips tremble slightly and knew it wasn't a good sign. Lance noticed this and asked Keith to look at him. He rested a hand on Keith's shoulder and squeezed lightly.

"Keith, buddy, it's okay. No need to get upset. I'll find whoever did this and I'll get your clothes back. Don't worry." He spoke with a sweet and calming tone, which made Keith nod and blink back his tears. After a few more encouraging words, Lance told Keith to put on his boxers while he searched for some of his own clothes he could lend him, and pulled an oversized grey sweater, a pair of black shorts and some colorful ankle socks out of his bag, explaining that he always carried extra clothes because he always made a mess of himself.

Keith accepted the clothes and dressed up, putting on the sneakers he used for P.E. on, seeing as they took his black converse too. He picked up his belongings while Lance got dressed, making a mental list to see if there was anything else missing. Gladly, they didn't take his personal belongings, like his phone or his favourite head band, which he used while playing sports so his long hair wouldn't get in his eyes. After picking everything up he grabbed his towel, rubbing it against his hair to dry his head.

"Woah woah woah!" Lance said loudly, making Keith stop and look up. Lance took Keith's towel out of his hands and commanded him to sit on the bench where their bags were on. Lance stood behind Keith. "Don't dry you hair like that! It'll get all frizzy and puffed up. Let me do it." He patted the towel against Keith's head, making soft, circular motions to dry it more efficiently. Keith closed his eyes and hummed softly, enjoying Lance's hands on his hair after he finished drying. Lance tried to style Keith hair in the usual way Keith wore it, and smiled when Keith let out a content sigh. "Feel good?" He asked taking the towel again and patting the excess water off his tips. Keith hummed in agreement.

Rather than feel weird thanks to the intimate and close contact, Keith's eyes fell shut as he enjoyed the feeling. Lance finished but spent a minute or two just playing with Keith's hair, combing the black strands with his long fingers. After a while, he let go and handed the towel to Keith. "Ya know buddy, you got the softest hair. Like, ever."

Keith blushed and laughed. "Th-thank you."

Lance took his and Keith's bags, carrying them both on one shoulder. He slung his other arm over Keith's shoulders and smiled. "Let's get your clothes back, buddy."

Both boys walked out of the locker room, absentmindedly pulling each other closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'ALL I HAVE A BOMB ASS KLANCE AU, IF U WANNA HEAR ABOUT IT COME TO MY TUMBLR @isabelarmuelles AND I'LL GIVE YOU THE GOOD OL' DETAILS 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura is scary, Keith falls in love with a sweater, Lance's child is a restaurant, VREPIT SAL!!!!!

"Why the frick would anyone do this?" Lance asked looking pissed. Keith stared at the ground and picked imaginary lint from Lance's sweater, just because he didn't want to face the bulletin board. Lance paced around like a madman, not really knowing what to do but still angry at the situation.

"L-let's just take it d-down and go."

"No. I wanna make whoever did this pay."

"Lance, stop." Keith said with a small voice, but Lance was too angry to care.

He cupped his hands around his mouth and started shouting at the students who walked by during their lunch break. "Whoever did this is gonna get their ass kicked!" And he kept on screaming.

Keith wished the sweater he was wearing swallowed him whole. Whoever took his clothes had stapled them on the bulletin board at the school entrance where all the sign up sheets for different club activities were found. They wrote with a blue maker in big bold letters 'Trending: How to dress like a Balmeran freak'.

Lance kept screaming, ranting about how unmature and mean it was to treat someone that way while the people passing by scattered, too afraid to come close to him. Keith was getting scared by the minute, watching as his friend got worked up about the matter. He approached the tall, loud boy and with a shaky hand tugged at Lance's shirt. Lance turned to face a pair of deep, dark purple eyes that looked like they were ready to spill tears.

"L-let's just take it do-down and g-go..." Keith repeated, his voice was small and quiet, barely heard if it hadn't been for Lance who leaned in just in time to hear Keith's whisper.

"Keith, I-"

"What on earth is going on here?" Both boys heard a girl's voice say and they turned to look at the source. A tall, dark-skinned beauty with long white hair stared questioningly at them, with her hands on her hips. Lance smiled.

"Oh. Hey Allura."

"Why am I getting complains about you screaming at people, and why doesn't it surprise me?" She said looking annoyed, but the glint of amusement in her eyes was hard to miss. Lance shrugged.

"You know me, I love the attention. But this time I have a reason behind it." He moved aside to show the whole board with the clothes stapled onto it. "Some assholes took Keith's clothes and stapled them here. And,-- you know me, my mind gets all this good ideas,-- I thought you could maybe file in a special report for your dad on how they're bullying my buddy Keith? I'm fairly certain of who did this but I can't file in the complaint without proof."

Allura glared at him. Keith took a step back and hid behind Lance's tall frame, away from Allura's intimidating stare. "You know I can't do that, Lance. Just because my dad is the principal doesn't mean I get any special treatment."

"I'm sure old man Alfor wouldn't mind, princess."

"I'm not doing it. You can go and write down your complain and make an appointment with the school's counselor." Allura then finally took notice of the boy hiding behind Lance and raised an eyebrow. "You're Keith?"

Keith's cheeks grew warm and he gave a small nod, hiding his face behind his bangs. Lance looked at him and gave him a small smile.

"He's very shy."

Allura tried to not give in. "Sorry about the whole misshappen, but I really can't do anything." She turned around ready to walk away, when Lance made a 'hmmm' sound that left her rooted to her place.

"You know, it would be a pitty to let the Golden Boy of Balmera High have such a bad time here. Because, what if he changes schools again, and then when they ask the reason why, he'll simply say 'I was bullied at Altea'. I mean, would you imagine that? A sports prodigy, with an extremely high academic performance, that took his baseball team to nationals and WON, getting bullied at his new school? What would that say about us? I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but If people knew the sweet star child was being bullied at our school, who would want to come here? If you look at it this way-" Lance was cut mid sentence when Allura aggressively covered his mouth with her hand.

"Fine! I'll do it! Just stop talking!" She let her hand fall down at her side and her gaze fell upon Keith. "So you're the Golden Boy? I would've never guess a boy so shy and reserved would be the pride of our rival school. I actually though you were going to be like Lance; messy, loud, and all over the place. Sorry for assuming."

"I-it's okay," Keith's sweet little smile made Allura's cheeks dust in a slight pink, and Lance looked at the exchange without saying a word, feeling a little something twist in his stomach. Allura waved goodbye and left them saying how she would get to the bottom of Keith's problem and would find who was responsible of the clothes incident. Both boys watched her retrieving figure and then Keith turned to look at Lance when the taller boy cleared his throat.

"Let's take off your clothes." Both boys blushed at the statement, and Lance tried to back pedal on what he said. "Off the board, I mean- I would never, I mean, you get what I said!" Keith snorted.

They carefully took down the display, trying not to rip off too many sign up sheets. One piece of paper caught Keith's attention in particular. He carefully took his shirt off the bulletin board and stared at the page. "Baseball..." he whispered, making Lance turn and give him an amused look.

"See something you like, buddy?" Lance asked taking Keith's taped-covered converse off the board.

"I-I wanna sign up f-for baseball..." he let his eyes wonder over to Lance's face, who had a big grin plastered over his features. Lance took a pen out of his bag and handed it to Keith, who forgot Lance was carrying both of their bags. Keith took the pen and motioned to take his stuff, but Lance swatted his hand away and pointed at the sign up paper. Keith wrote his name with a very nice yet sharp and unique handwriting. Lance beamed.

They spent the rest of the break taking off the staples out of Keith's clothes. Lance neatly folded them and put them away inside of Keith's bag. 

"I'm starving!" Lance shouted, earning a couple of angry and startled stares from the students passing by.

"W-well, we did miss lu-lunch..." Keith stated, his stomach growling loudly. Lance just stared at him before chuckling and patting his back.

"How about we go eat something after school? There's a really cool place I wanted to show you." 

"O-kay." Keith said, smiling.

Both boys parted and walked to their respective classes. Keith waited eagerly for the last three classes of the day to end fast, only excusing himself to go get changed back into his clothes in the bathroom. He took off Lance's comfy shorts and changed back into his beloved black jeans, taking off his gym shoes an replacing them with his trusty old converse. What he did not change was Lance's oversized sweater. He hoped Lance didn't mind, the fabric was just so soft he simply didn't want to take it off.

After the three long, boring classes had passed, Keith finally met Lance at the school entrance. Lance just took one look at Keith and laughed. "You like it that much?"

Keith beamed. "It's really s-soft." He said tugging at the sleeves. His eyes widen in realization, as the thought of Lance wanting his sweater back crossed his mind. "Y-you can have it b-back, I'm sorry f-for not changing out of it, I-I was gonna but it w-was so soft I just-" Keith started to mumble and blush like a little school girl, and Lance found it completely adorable.

"No no, don't worry, you can keep it. It just makes you look way smaller than you actually are."

"Hey! I-I'm not that s-small, you're just freakishly t-tall."

Lance brought his hand up to his chin and looked like he was deep in thought, but then shook his head. "Nah, you're tiny." He then patted Keith's head and started walking, with Keith trailing up behind him.

"S-so, where are we g-going?" Keith asked. Lance turned to face him, taking a glance at Keith. His lips slowly curled up in a smile as he watched Keith play with the hem of the sweater. "I-I don't really know th-this area," Keith stated truthfully, "I used G-Google maps to find where th-the school was located, a-and my only rout has b-been from my house to s-school and back." Lance nodded.

"Well, what are you in the mood for?" Lance stopped walking and let his eyes roam Keith's face. Both boys were standing very close to each other, less than a foot away. If Lance moved any closer their shoulders would be bumping against each other. Keith shrugged. "The place I'm taking you to has a very diverse menu, but I still wanna know what you'd like right now."

"I-I don't know. We can g-go to the place y-you suggested?"

"Well, it's my favourite restaurant, but I still wanna be sure." He looked at Keith expectantly.

"I'd love to g-go."

Lance nodded, turned left, and guided Keith in the direction of the 'greatest restaurant ever', as he lightly put it. He explained how he discovered it; one day when he got out of middle school and got lost on his way to Pidge's house, he saw the little run down restaurant and decided to ask for a phone to call his mom. While he stayed there, waiting for his mom to pick him up, the owner of the place offered him some free samples in exchange of him telling his friends at school about the place. Both shook hands on it, an Lance went home with one goal in mind: getting some customers for the little lonely place.

Turns out, people weren't attracted by the place and the food was quite mediocre. But Lance found it really welcoming and nice, so with the help of his friends and Pidge's older brother, Matt, they started visiting the place and helping the owner with some changes for the better.

"I mean, can you imagine it? A bunch of eight graders and a high school freshman bossing around an old adult and helping him run a business. It was hilarious, honestly. Sal must've been very desperate to actually accept our help." He laughed as he remembered, as if it all happened the day before. "Pidge and I took care of the decorating and fixing, Hunk even made a new menu with new recipes and wrote down all the ingredients for each and every one, and Matt took care of the publicity of the place. I remember going there every day after school to paint the walls, fix the chairs, and even hang little paper lanterns from the ceiling. We made it cozy, yet fun and modern. After the place was done, Sal asked us to sign our names on a wall. So, to make the story short, this place is my pride and joy." Lance said making an halt. Keith looked at the bright red sign above Lance's head and his eyes shone in wonder.

"Welcome to Vrepit Sal's Diner, buddy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is kinda short, which means the good stuff will come soon
> 
> Come shout at me on Tumblr @isabelarmuelles
> 
> Get them good n' spicy facts other there


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids eat, get to know each other a bit more, and a tragic backstory is unlocked.

To say the diner was cool was an understatement. Keith was amazed at how cozy it all felt. The whole place was covered in warm colors, reds and yellows mixed with soft pinks and dark browns, creating a feeling of a homey and calm environment. It was a warmth that felt calming; the air was filled with the light chatter of the many costumers that sat on the different-sized round tables located all over the place.

Colorful paper lanterns hung from the ceiling, illuminating every inch of the place vibrantly, and Keith took notice of the paper origami interlaced with fairy lights propped up on the walls.   

Everyone seemed cheery and happy, the good vibes getting to Keith in full waves. Whatever troubled him that day vanished completely. Lance absentmindedly took a hold of Keith's hand and pulled him farther into the restaurant.

Lance's hand was cold yet had a certain warmth to it that made him shiver, but not in a bad way. He dragged him to the main counter, where a tall chubby man stood with a small frown. His eyes lit up when he saw Lance.

"Kid! You're finally back!"

Lance sat on one of the stools and motioned Keith to do the same. They took off their backpacks and Lance introduced Keith.

"Hi Sal, this is my new friend Keith!" He said beaming like a little child. Sal extended a hand and shook Keith's smaller one. "He's new at Altea, moved here less than a month ago."

"Well, in that case as a welcome, food's on the house." Sal turned to Keith and motioned to get a menu. "Call me when you're ready to order," he glanced at Lance and pointed with an accusing finger. "Don't go overboard like last time."

"Sal, I would never!" Lance exclaimed with fake hurt, a hand on his chest. Sal chuckled and turned around, busing himself with some orders. 

Lance took a menu and pointed out the specialties of the house, going over every ingredient and explaining how it was all made. He talked about the best burgers, the new additions to the menu and some of the finest milkshakes they offered. By the end of the whole explanation, Keith was even more indecisive about it.

"Don't worry buddy, you can take your time."

"I-It's just..." Keith's eyes roamed over the menu for the sixth time, his brows narrowing. "Everything y-you've mentioned has cheese or m-milk in it..." He felt embarrassed, saying this after Lance took his time to explain everything and all.

"Oh... Oh! You're lactose intolerant, I'm so sorry!" Lance exclaimed as it clicked in his head. He quickly looked over the menu and scratched his neck. "You never mentioned it so I didn't know about that. Are you like, vegan or do you still eat meat and eggs?"

"I-I don't mind th-the eggs but I'm not a big fan of m-meat, it kinda upsets m-my stomach. Although I d-do like fish."

"Oh! We got some pretty tasty fishsticks,- don't worry, they're made out of real fish,- french fries and salted vegetables, is that okay?"  Lance said fidgeting with the menu on his hands. Keith leaned over to see if the dish had a picture, not noticing he made Lance blush from the sudden proximity.

"M-more than okay, i-it looks amazing."

Lance ordered their food and drinks,- two maracuyá smoothies, because Lance asked Keith if he liked maracuyá and Keith shook his head, saying he'd never tasted it, earning a "What do you mean you've never tasted it?!" from the taller boy,- and after Lance explaining that maracuyá is spanish for 'passion fruit', and Keith still saying he'd never tried it, both engaged in a light conversation. 

They talked about their classes, Lance's lack of sports knowledge, Keith's lack of theatrical knowledge, what was Keith's life like before attending Altea, Lance's never-ending dad jokes and pickup lines, and getting to know each other better.

Pidge texted Lance asking where he was a few minutes after their food arrived, and Lance grinned at his phone, then sending a ton of selfies with Keith to their group chat, both with flushed cheeks and soft smiles. What Keith didn't know was that Lance changed his lock screen to his favorite one when Keith wasn't looking.

Before they knew it, three hours had gone by. Sal just refilled their drinks, listening to bits and pieces of their conversation and smiling. Over the course of those hours, both boys had leaned in so close together, their stools looked like a small bench. It was something that happened  absentmindedly, it seemed so natural for them to be close like that. They didn't mind at all. Keith's leg was pressed against Lance's, and his arm was brushing against the other's.

It was getting dark outside, the sky filled with soft tones of orange that reminded Keith of autumn and a warm, cozy day under a pile of soft blankets. Lance was talking to Sal, something about adding vegan and vegetarian options on the menu, and more sea food. Keith smiled. People were still coming and going, the place never felt empty, and their chatter remained at a constant volume, which was perfect.

They eventually said their goodbyes, picking up their belongings and walking out the diner. Neither wanted to go home yet, so they just walked around aimlessly, enjoying each other's company and how the cold night breeze hit their faces.

"I-I really liked th-that restaurant." Keith said, breaking the silence.

Lance turned to face him. "Oh! I'm glad. Surprisingly, It's one of the best in town."

"D-did your parents help t-too?"

"My mom did. She's very good at decorating and stuff, so she picked out the colors of the walls and chairs. She also donated some money for the place to get started after re-opening." Lance smiled at the memory, burying his hands in his pockets. 

"She s-sounds like a really ni-nice person."

"Oh my gosh, she is the nicest person ever! I mean, mothers usually are, but my mom is so sweet and so amazing, you'll love her once you meet her!" Lance bubbled with excitement at every word, taking hold of Keith's arm and bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. Well, he definitely was a momma's boy. While they were at the diner, Lance mentioned something about his parents not being together anymore, and his mom taking custody of him and his four sisters. Maybe that's why he talked wonders of his mom, the lady had to raise five kids and keep her sanity, which was an admirable thing to do.

"It must b-be nice to have th-that." His voice was quiet, strained. He didn't want to sound like that, but it was hard not to. Lance's smile faltered, his eyes trying to find Keith's.

"Buddy?" Keith lifted his head, a small, forced smile appearing on his features. Lance shook his head. "Don't try to fake a smile with me, I'm an actor. It's my damn job to give out fake smiles."

"I-I'm not-, I wasn't-"

"Abupbupbupbupbup, don't 'I'm not-, I wasn't-' me. Spill."

Keith sighed, taking a few seconds to speak. He looked around and tried to avoid Lance's stare. "It's just, y-you've talked wonders ab-about your mom, and even P-Pidge and Hunk have mentioned h-how cool she is, and I-I wish I'd have that."

Lance pulled at the straps of his bag, looking lost in thought. They were walking at a slower pace now, the sky going completely dark. A few cars buzzed by, their lights illuminating their path, the dim lights of the lampposts not being bright enough. A few more seconds passed, and Lance spoke up, voice soft and unsure.

"Keith, you never mentioned your mom while we were talking... what happened to her?"

Keith's breath hitched and he stopped walking altogether. What had actually happened to her? He only knew bits and pieces of the story, too afraid to ask his father in fear he might break down or something. Keith only knew her from the many photo albums and videos his dad kept. In them, her voice was the sweetest thing he'd ever heard, like honey treats that melt on your tongue. 

He looked so much like her. Black hair with fluffy bangs, milky white skin, sharp but gentle purple eyes... hers were brighter, but still; he was the embodiment of his mom. No wonder his old man had such a hard time raising him; Keith reminded him so much of the love he lost, sometimes he couldn't stand being in the same room. It wasn't Keith's fault he looked so much like her, but he understood. It was like rubbing salt on an open wound, over and over.

Keith raised his head and his eyes locked in Lance's questioning ones. "To be honest? I-I don't know. My dad never t-talked about it s-so I didn't ask. All I know is she d-died a short time after I w-was born."

He wasn't sure what he was expecting. Maybe a 'that's rough, buddy?' A 'that's so sad!'? Or even an 'oww, you poor thing!'

So when Lance answered, his surprised expression was extremely genuine.

"Well, I'm getting you a mom."

"W-what?"

"You heard me, I'm getting you a mom- Oh! We could share mine! I mean, you'll have to share with my sisters too, and maybe Hunk and Pidge 'cuz they're like her adoptive children, but - you get the drill!"

"Lance-"

"You have to stay the night! I'll give you some clothes and you'll get to meet her and see how awesome she is!" Lance took a hold of Keith's hand and started tugging at it, trying to walk in the direction of his house, but since Keith was all muscle, he barely moved an inch.

"But-"

"No buts! You're coming home with me tonight!" It only took a couple of seconds until the realization of what he had just said sank in, and he turned to Keith with wide eyes. "Wait, that sounded wrong-"

Keith's laugh bubbled out of him, being hard to contain. Lance stared in awe as his friend bent over, one hand on his stomach and the other trying to cover his mouth. A few snorts escaped his lips, which were covered by his hand, barely audible through his laugh.

This is the most adorable thing ever, he thought, laughing along with Keith in the end. After calming down, Keith took out his phone and called his dad to ask for permission. Lance couldn't help but stare. His face glowed under the dim light of the street,-- a lamppost and the red sign of a 24 hour mini market,-- making him look even prettier than usual. Lance's sweater hanged low on his shoulder, the sleeves so long they covered Keith's hands.

Two thoughts were loud and clear on Lance's mind:

Red was definitely his color.

And

Keith was the prettiest boy he'd ever seen.

Lance was so transfixed on his thoughts about Keith, he didn't even notice when his friend had ended the call. A small, playful grin played at his lips, meaning Keith had caught Lance staring, but he didn't comment anything about it.

"He said yes. L-lead the way."

Lance's smile couldn't have been bigger. He moved his hand to take a hold of Keith's own, but decided against in the last second, leaving his hand suspended in mid-air. Was it too much? Maybe Keith wouldn't like him being all touchy. Well, maybe more than usual. He turned around and signaled Keith to follow him.

Keith did wanted to hold Lance's hand, so he didn't understand why his friend decided against it. It felt normal between them. He hadn't moved when Lance started walking, so the taller boy was getting farther from him. Keith didn't just want to trail behind Lance like a lost puppy. Gathering up some courage, he ran after his friend. Lance heard the sound of Keith's converse hitting against the pavement, and then suddenly his hand was engulfed in warmth, startling him. He whipped his head around to face Keith, eyes wide, but the smaller boy just smiled and looked ahead, avoiding Lance's stare as he squeezed his hand tightly.

Lance's face tinged in different shades of red, his heart beating loudly as an oblivious Keith walked beside him, and the two boys went hand in hand, feeling nervous but exited about the night ahead of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adorable children. So soft. 
> 
> Anyway, come join me on tumblr (isabelarmuelles) to ask me anything about this fic or about a new Klance fic I'm cooking up for all of you!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A SLEEPOVER!!!! CONFESSIONS!!!!!

Lance's house was huge. Like, really freakin' big. From the outside, Keith could see how every room inside the house had the lights on, except from one. Probably Lance's room. The front yard had a ton of little bushes, well cut and arranged so that they lined up next to the small driveway and made it look better. The outside was painted pale yellow, with a red roof and a pretty, adorned wooden door to match. Two cars were parked outside, a small, pink bicycle right next to them and a blue skateboard right on top of the roof of one of the cars.

"Oh frick, Lana is gonna kill Laura." Lance took the skateboard off the car and placed it under his arm, never letting Keith's hand go. They walked up to the front entrance, and Lance stared at the door's lock before turning to Keith. "I need my keys."

"Well, y-yeah."

"I forgot my keys." He stated.

"Well, th-that's a problem." Keith chuckled. Lance gave Keith a sheepish smile, but then his eyes opened wide, as if a light bulb had just been turned on over his head like in cartoons. Reluctantly letting go of Keith's hand, he fished his phone out of his pocket and tapped in a number, then holding it next to his ear. It rang a few times until whoever was on the other end answered.

Lance imitated a deeper, more husky voice. "Hello, I'm here calling from Weblum's Pizza, our delivery guy informs us that he has reached your house but no one's answering the door?... -Oh okay, well, thanks for ordering Weblum's Pizza, enjoy your meal!" Lance then ended the call and turned to Keith, a big grin on his face. "How was that?"

"That d-didn't even sound li-like you." Keith said. Lance had spoken in a completely different tone and range, sounding like an actual employee with the monotone 'I hate my job but it's all I have' voice and all. "H-how did you even know w-what they ordered?"

"Call it a hunch." He said, shrugging. 

"That w-was awesome."Keith laughed lightly, still severely impressed by Lance.

"I know! I'm so proud, I've been practicing that for ages." He sounded proud and a bit arrogant, but the blush on his cheeks gave it away. Keith knew Lance might have probably practiced in front of his friends at least a thousand times, knowing how much of a perfectionist the boy is, and he found it endearing.

"C-can you do other v-voices?" Keith asked, staring up a Lance with curious eyes.

"I can imitate the whole cast of Adventure Time, wanna see?"

Inside the house, a girl's voice could be heard screaming something along the lines of 'Mom, pizza's here!' And a woman's voice answering, 'what? So soon?' much closer to the door. A few seconds later the door opened revealing a short, chubby woman with curly hair.

"You're not the pizza guy."

"No, I'm your son, bringing another child into your care." Lance said taking a step to the side, standing next to Keith and swinging an arm around his friend's shoulder. "This is Keith Kogane, my new bestie. He's new in town."

Keith remained silent, taking in the woman's appearance. Everything about her was... mom like. All her features were soft and gentle, and even her voice sounded welcoming. Her face filled with recognition, and she stepped forward to embrace Keith in a hug. "It's so nice to finally meet you! Lance has told me so much about you."

"Mamá!" Lance whined, but she shushed him.

"I-it's nice meeting y-you too. Sorry f-for coming in u-unannounced." Keith apologized, but Lance's mom waved her hand dismissively. 

She let go of Keith and beamed at him. Keith noticed Lance inherited his smile from his mom, bright and welcoming. "I assume you're sleeping over since Lance brought you over so late?"

"Mom, it's like 7 or something."

"Silencio, dije." She shushed him again. "Keith, would you like to come in?"

"Y-yeah."

The inside of the house was probably bigger, if that was even possible. There wasn't a single spot on the living room that wasn't covered covered in stuff; from clothes to shoes, books, makeup, skates, hats, bags, blankets and even dirty plates. Lance threw the blue skateboard onto a couch while his mom wasn't looking and signaled him to be quiet, his index finger covering his lips, making Keith smile.

"Dios mío, excuse the mess in here. Someone didn't tell me we were having a guest over." She said glaring at Lance. For the first time since the two boy's became friends, Lance hid,-- or at least tried to,-- behind Keith, instead of the other way around.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry." He slightly bowed his head in apology.

"Oh sweetheart, don't mind that." Lance's mom took Keith's wrist and gently tugged him in the direction of the stairs. "You can go upstairs to Lance's room, he'll be up in a minute." Her smile was sweet yet left no room for arguing, so Keith nodded and glanced at his friend, as if asking for permission to enter his room or even go upstairs. Lance gave him a little wink and a small smile.

"To the left, second door with the huge Hamilton poster, buddy."

Keith turned, lowering his head to hide the obvious blush on his cheeks, and  climbed the stairs, disappearing on the second floor. Lance watched him move, the big sweater even covered his butt, and, if anything, Keith could even wear it as a dress. He grinned.

"Okay, are you gonna tell me, or are you gonna keep looking at him like a love sick puppy?" His mom asked knowingly, her hands laying on her hips. Lance's face went red.

"What're you t-talking about?" He said avoiding her stare.

"Lance, mijo, te gusta, verdad?"

Lance's eyes widened. Was he that easy to read? His mom had known him all his life, so no, he wasn't that easy to read, his mom just had superpowers. He thought about it. Did he like Keith? Yeah, he did like him, as a friend, that is. But he also liked his pretty eyes and soft hair, given that Keith was one of the most beautiful human beings he had laid his eyes upon. He wasn't gonna deny it. Lance was attracted to Keith's good looks. But, then again, who wouldn't be? The boy was gorgeous in every way.

But in the short time that they'd know each other, he realized that his looks weren't the only attractive thing about him. Keith was smart, sweet, nice, funny, friendly... once you broke into the thick layer of shyness, you reached in into the best qualities in him. He was gentle, selfless, and he also had the cutest laugh and the softest voice and-

His mom started snapping her fingers in front of his face, stopping his train of thought. She sighed and shook her head. "It's worse than I thought."

Lance grinned. "I maaay have a small crush on him." He said scratching the back of his head. "I've known him for a short time, but he's just so-" he was at a loss of words. What word could even describe Keith?

"Awesome? Charming?" His mom said, trying to help.

"-freakin' amazing." Lance answered, swooning. He took a hold of his mom's hands and started word vomiting in Spanish, so, if somehow Keith heard,- which wasn't probable, considering the boy was inside a room on the second floor,- he wouldn't understand a thing. "Es tan dulce y lindo, ¿y viste sus ojos? ¡Son tan hermosos! Y su cabello es muy suave y su risa es hermosa y-" Lance squeaked in an inhuman way and squeezed his mother's hands, making her laugh.

"Honey, that's not a small crush." She pulled him into a hug and let him rest his head on top of hers, caressing his back with a loving touch. "Whatever happens, good or bad, I'm always here for you, mijo."

"I know mamá, but he's different." Before she could say anything about that, he quickly continued. "Yeah, I know that's an overused line, but I mean it. He's completely different from anyone I've ever liked. I've thought about it; there's usually a pattern: I always look for the same personality. That's probably why it never works out. But Keith's personality is the complete opposite of what I'd usually look for. Maybe that's why I'm so attracted to him."

"Suenas como un sabio, ¿estás seguro de que tienes 17 años?" His mother asked teasingly.

"Pretty sure."

"Well, you better not keep him waiting, so go up there and work that charm, I'll call everyone when the pizza arrives." She smirked and pushed her son towards the stairs, making him brush a deep shade of red.

Lance climbed the stairs as fast as he could, and stood in front of his bedroom door for a while, trying to let his red cheeks go back to normal and his beating heart calm down a bit. Nothing could be heard from inside, so at least he knew none of his sisters were bothering Keith. Did he make his bed this morning? Probably not, he never really did. The room was probably more messy than the living room downstairs. Lance was about to start panicking, but a soft voice from inside his room left him rooted to the floor.

Now, Lance had heard many singing voices throughout his life, so people breaking into song wasn't new for him. Being a theater kid all his life, he'd learned how to sing harmonies, play instruments and accompany other's songs as a backup singer. He'd sang in choirs, duets, and usually solos, and knew how wide his voice range was. Other people's voices were amusing, but nothing really impressed him anymore. He was surprised with this voice, to say the least.

It sounded muffle, a wall being between the voice and Lance. He carefully opened the door, taking a peek inside and trying to not make a sound.

Keith was holding a page in front of his face, back turned towards the door. He swayed his hips to the imaginary music playing in his head, getting engulfed in the song.

~Stars fading but I linger on, dear  
Still craving your kiss  
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear  
Just saying this~

They were the lyrics Lance had printed the day before, for the club's auditions that were held yearly. He wanted to sing a duet with Shay, since they were important members of the drama club and had to show newcomers how awesome the club was.

Keith's voice was as gorgeous as he was, a beautiful melody coated with sweet honey and a siren-like attraction to it that left Lance breathless. Just as Keith was about to sing the next verse, Lance walked into the room and softly started singing along, making Keith turn around so fast, Lance was surprised he didn't get whiplash.

"~Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you~," Lance sang walking closer to his friend after closing the door behind him. His steps were slow and careful, trying to not make his friend feel embarrassed for being caught in mid-song, and actually encourage him to keep singing. "~Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you...~"

Keith blushed and shyly sang again. "~But in your dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me.~"

"Oh my God, you literal angel."

"W-what are you talking a-about?" Keith said, putting the page back where he found it on Lance's desk. He covered his hands with the long sleeves of the sweater and looked around, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Sorry for touching y-your stuff."

"Don't worry, buddy, mi casa es tu casa ahora." Lance then took hold of Keith's bag and placed it next to his bed, taking off his own and placing it beside his friend's. He walked to his bed and plopped down on it, making the mattress squeak under his weight. He glanced back at Keith and motioned for him to come over and lay beside him. Keith obliged, making Lance scoot over to give him space, but the bed wasn't that big, so Keith's knee bumped against Lance's shoulder, the latter being sprawled across the bed and the former sitting next to him. A few shared glances and blushing cheeks later, Lance spoke up, trying hard to not sound so nervous, thanks to Keith being in his bed and all.

"Hey buddy, why didn't you tell me you could sing?"

"I-I'm not that good..." Keith mumbled, pulling his legs up to his chest and hugging them like a little kid. Lance, who was laying on his back, gasped and quickly propped himself on one elbow to look at Keith with mouth ajar.

"You're joking." He then sat up and grabbed Keith by the shoulders, shaking him lightly. "That was the most beautiful interpretation of 'Dream a little dream of me' I've ever heard-"

"It's not-"

"Keith, buddy, pal, friend, bro, dude, homie... Don't fight me on this. It was."

"O-okay." Keith blushed, playing with the hem of the sweater to distract himself a little. Lance gave a triumphant smile, getting back to his original position on his bed, closing his eyes for a while.

Something did play around his mind a bit, the thought bouncing around in his head. Keith didn't stutter while singing? It was a bit confusing. Lance paid no mind to his stutter ever since he first heard him talk, at first he thought it was the other's nervousness, but soon realized it actually wasn't and didn't comment on it, not wanting to sound rude. Keith's voice was sweet and a bit raspy, a combination that made Lance swoon every time he talked about something he liked. 

As if Keith read his mind, he started talking. "I-I like singing be-because I don't stutter? I-it's like my head t-turns off that annoying s-stuttery part o-of my brain and doesn't a-acknowledge singing as t-talking? There must be s-some sciency stuff be-behind that but that's k-kinda how it is." He confessed, fingers intertwined and head hanging low. Then, in a soft whisper, he continued, voice cracking. "Sometimes I-I sing just to feel a b-bit normal, you know? E-even if my voice isn't th-the greatest, I just do it t-to... to..."

Lance's eyes widen. He quickly sat up and took hold of Keith's small, trembling hands. "I-I don't really like i-it." Keith continued, his voice a little broken. "This is kinda w-weird, I-I'm just dumping m-my feelings just li-like that on you, a-and we haven't been f-friends for that long, b-but I really trust you and i-it's just..."

Lance rubbed small circles on the back of Keith's hands, humming softly to the made-up melody of a song, trying to calm him down. Gladly, Lance didn't stop him from talking, and let everything flow out of him. "You've been th-the first person ever t-to not address it the f-first time we talked, a-and you haven't said a-anything at all. Hunk asked m-me about two days a-ago if it was a ne-nervous thing, but he asked s-so nicely I d-didn't feel uncomfortable at all. A-and Pidge also asked about i-it, and they are so p-patient when I speak."

Some tears spilled from Keith's eyes, and Lance was quick to wipe them away. "A-and you... you're so ni-nice to me and..." he sobbed quietly, moving his head so it rested on Lance's shoulder. "I-I've always been bullied b-by it and I hate m-my stuttering, but I'm really g-greatful for finding friends wh-who don't mind. T-thank you, Lance."

Lance hugged Keith tightly against him, rubbing his back as he softly sobbed and eventually calmed down. Lance closed his eyes and kept humming, feeling Keith's warm body relax and calm down. After a while, Lance's mom knocked on the door and handed Lance a box filled with pizza, and Lance thanked her, closing the door as she left.

"S-sorry for all of th-that." Keith mumbled, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "I-I don't know wh-what got over me, I-"

"Keith, you don't have to apologize. I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me all that, even if we haven't know each other for that long. It means you trust me as much as I trust you, and that's all that matters." Lance smiled reassuringly at Keith, earning a small giggle from the black haired boy. "Now, I don't know about you, but this pizza smells like heaven and I really wanna take a bite. Shall we?"

They spent the next five hours talking about anything and everything, time flying quickly as both got even more comfortable with each other. Lance gave Keith some comfy clothes to change into, the shirt swallowing him whole just like the gray sweater had. Lance was kinda glad he used his clothes slightly oversized, because Keith's tiny frame looked absolutely adorable dressed like that. The pizza box was discarded next to Lance's desk, both too lazy to actually go downstairs and throw it away. 

Keith agreed to sleep on the bed with Lance, the latter saying that there was enough space for the both of them, even if it wasn't true. They cuddled together and hid under Lance's blanket, barely big enough to cover both of them. Around 2 a.m., as they grew sleepy and quiet, Lance gathered some courage and asked Keith something.

"Hey Keith, do you mind singing for me?"

Keith hesitated, not sure if he really wanted to. Lance said he liked his voice, but Keith was very insecure about it. He liked singing, sure, but he usually did it in the comfort of his own room, in a low voice, where no one could hear him and no one was bothered. He almost died on the spot when Lance caught him singing earlier. He probably wouldn't even like his music preference. What teenage boy listened to old school ballads and very old rock, anyway? Whoever listened to his music taste would say he was a weirdo or just plain lame. Keith never really liked pop music or rap, he just didn't find it as appealing as old music was. Finally deciding on singing something to please Lance, he cleared his throat and hummed softly.

"~My baby don't care for shows, my baby don't care for clothes, my baby just cares for me~" He started singing, his voice low like a whisper. He hoped Lance wouldn't mind his song of choice, but after taking a glance at the freckled boy beside him, mouthing along to the song, he sang a bit louder. "~My baby don't care for cars and races, my baby don't care for high-tone places...~"

"Nina Simone, nice."

Keith was surprised to know that Lance had hear that song. Apparently, Lance listened to anything and everything, so he knew about most of Keith's favorite singers and musicians. He kept on singing, trying to amuse his friend, who occasionally joined in and sing a chorus or hum the melody. 

Keith was the first one to fall asleep, and Lance took the opportunity to stare in awe and admire every single feature of Keith's face, as he gently caressed his cheek and played with his hair, being careful not to wake Keith up.

Lance smiled. He had a huge crush on a pretty boy, and he wanted their friendship to become more than just that.

Before finally closing his eyes and falling asleep, his mind filled with short snippets of Keith's beautiful face and the sound of his laugh.

Lance slept soundly that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay okay, it's time for a small, tiny, minuscle hiatus. I'm running dry on inspiration and I need some help with the plot. Any of you wanna help a bit? Throw some ideas at me on my tumblr, @isabelarmuelles and maybe get a preview on some scenes? ;) or maybe a whole new AU plus details? ;)))) 
> 
> See you soon♡


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